Developing specialized websites is the most common way to take advantage of affiliate marketing opportunities. Here are some basic steps for successful website monetization.

(1) Define your Broader Area of Interest

Before you decide to join any affiliate program you must define the broader area of your expertise. Most developers define their area of interest according to external marketing factors such as CPA rewards or Revenu-Share, and that is a great mistake. It is absolutely important to focus on areas where you obtain either:

It is absolutely important to focus on areas where you obtain either:

(i) Professional experience, or

(ii) Wide user experience.

If you don't have either professional or user experience in a certain field, you will probably fail to sell. Don’t forget that the Internet is actually an informational network. If you don’t acquire the necessary informational background to serve a market niche, your failure is almost certain. Therefore you must focus on areas where you can really prove useful to your visitors. If that is the case, your visitors may become also your customers in the future.

(2) Define How you are Going to Make Money in this Particular Business Field

Many web developers are investing their time and money to build websites that actually can not make money in the long-run. Before you do anything else you must make sure that you will be able to monetize your website. Either by:

■ Selling Directly Goods or Services

■ Affiliate Marketing (CPA, CPL, Revenue Shared, etc.)

■ PPC Advertising (Pay-Per-Click)

■ Selling Advertising Space (Banners, Back-links etc)

(3) Define your Competition

High competition in a market niche will make the monetization of your website rather difficult. Usually, a market offering high CPC/CPA becomes the field of intense competition. On the contrary, new market niches are enjoying lower competition and therefore are considered better fields for monetizing websites.

(4) Choose the Right Domain Name

The right domain name for your business niche is always important. Here are some basic criteria when choosing domain names:

(i) If you want to build a global brand, build it on .com domain

(ii) If you want to build a local brand choose a geographical domain (i.e. co.uk, .de)

(iii) Prefer short domain names (4-8 characters), they are easier to remember and to use via mobile devices

(iv) By measuring the exact monthly inquiries you may also identify domains that will drive you free organic traffic (google search)

(5) Choose the Right Technology

There are tens of different platforms for building websites, here are some basic guidelines:

KickStarter along with IndieGoGo are the most popular choices for funding a project online. KickStarter charges 5% fee on raising funds plus the 3rd party processing fees. Here are some KickStarter features:

i) Very large funding platform

ii) Focusing on creative people and projects (not every category allowed)

RocketHub is operating as a full CrowdFunding community with rewards and benefits for contributors. That means that you raise funds by providing in exchange goods or services to contributors. The success fee charged is 8% of the raised capital.

i) 8% fee (see below for more info)

ii) You may keep your funds even if you don’t meet your funding goals

iii) Exchange goods or services for the funds you receive

iv) Raise funds no matter where you are located

v) Non-Profit Projects can be funded

Fees: 8% fee either you achieve your funding goals or not. More specifically:

a) If you reach the funding goals: 4% fee + 4% credit card fee

b) If you don’t reach the funding goals: 8% fee + 4% credit card fee

Allowed Projects: RocketHub allows projects from many different categories including community projects, business and science

These are the 10 best Domain Marketplaces in the world. Almost all the following marketplaces are charging only success fees if your domain is finally sold, they don’t charge listing fees. This is happening due to intense competition among them. Some of these markets offer featured listings by charging more upon sales. What is interesting is that domainers may use the Escrow services of these marketplaces for free. Escrow service is considered necessary for every domain transaction as it offers security and reliability between the two parties (domain buyer and seller). Domainers that buy/sell domains directly without using any marketplace may secure their transaction by using the very popular services of Escrow.com.